Latest / The iAlign Podcast with Flint Mitchell / #26 - From Close Calls Across the Mexico-US Border and 7-Day Workweeks to Owning a Company With Gustavo Camolinga

Transcript

#26 - From Close Calls Across the Mexico-US Border and 7-Day Workweeks to Owning a Company With Gustavo Camolinga · The iAlign Podcast with Flint Mitchell

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: You're being hired to work to work, you know, like a piece of equipment.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so but that inspired me to to to be something in life.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I just knew every day I went into work and to that company said I will not do this for my best of my days, and I will I will better myself and I need to get out of this.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: My name is Quentin, and I get absolutely psyched by having conversations with authentic people that I admire values.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: Their stories and perspectives don't just make it smile left and better.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: Inspire me the way that I've got left and better.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: And the real underlying reason for all the work we built.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: Stay tuned to the end to hear what it is.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: I love this conversation with Gas, and I know you love to enjoy.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for doing this with me, Gus.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate it.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh my pleasure.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm glad to be here and you know, let's see where this goes.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's it should be a fun conversation.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think one thing that uh I really enjoy hearing uh are stories uh of people moving into this area because I think that in the Bay Area uh that is kind of the uh the the heart of this place is uh is it's not any one given culture.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: The Bay Area is a really big mix, and I do understand people's uh uh uh arguments that it's uh it's kind of sectored within the Bay Area, but I think it's really important when you're looking at at California and the Bay Area to take into account all of the different cultures that come here and have influenced us to have this kind of one mix of culture.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and I think that's a really wonderful thing.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was wondering if to start off, you could tell me a bit about uh your uh path to coming to the United States from Mexico.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: My path.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um well I didn't really have a you know, many people do it because they have a need, like a financial need, you know.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't do it for that reason.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: I was uh 16 years old and I just wanted to expl you know explore the world.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: And and uh uh seems like California was the right place for me at the time.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: I have friends and family here.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I decided to just give it a shot, you know.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: What what were you doing at the time that made you think that you should you should move out here?
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: I was 16 years old, I was about to finish high school, and I just wanted to get out of the a small town mindset type of deal, you know, and explore the world a little bit.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I was a again, I was rapping at my my last year of high school and I was working as uh as a chef in a restaurant.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: And we had some uh some of my cousins who went down to California and then you know that it looks like their mindset is different than their local mindset.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, I want to experience some of that.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: So uh decided to make plants and come up north and hang out with uh my brothers who were already here and uh starting to get to know their uh a different culture and different mindset.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's definitely a thicker shock when you're moving from uh from a place where you you know everybody knows each other and and it's very laid back and everybody speaks the same language, same accent and whatnot.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so coming into uh a different country, different language, and learning it all from the beginning.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: It was uh it was challenging, but it was fun at the same time.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, no regrets there.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: Were you so you were from a small town in Mexico?
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: Where was that?
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm from a small town called Manillo.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh it's south of Puerto Vallarta, north of uh Ixtapa, uh small state called Colima.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's some it's a beach town, you know.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh on those days it was probably about under 50,000 people, and it's very spread out, so uh very rural, a lot of dirt roads and whatnot.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, my high school was a crowd straight from the beach, you know.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: So we went to the beach regularly, and I took that for granted, you know.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh especially the warm waters and the food and everything else, right?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Up here, I mean you I can't handle the water here, man.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's crazy.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um well then I like the way you put that.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: You said people came down from uh California and they were just different.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: What what were the what were the differences or the different ways that they acted that you were like, oh, that's interesting.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: I wonder if I could be around that.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: I even hate to say it.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh mainly um because the material stuff.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna show it on it, you know.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: No, I would have flashy cars and what's going on, you know.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: I can't afford that here, right?
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: So um we had all kinds of different fun, but no really much material, and then you're young, you want to have stuff, you know.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: So in that in that perspective, you know, I wanted to have to be honest with you, I wanted to come up here, work hard for a year, and get and buy me a motorcycle and then go back in a motorcycle.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: 30 years later, still here.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I had like 15 motorcycles.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: I never had a motorcycle license, but I I rode them all my life here.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: And uh and uh, you know, I just I just fall in love with the culture here.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh like you say, it's very diverse and it's just very beautiful.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's uh hard to and I I try to go back to Mexico and live in there.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Everything is so so beautiful.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: This is home, it's just the weather and the people and and everything is it's a great spot to be on.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard to leave it.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: Ah, no, I I completely agree.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um that's I I it absolutely I I love don't sugarcoat anything.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's an important part of it, is yeah, is kind of the the the mindset and as it changes, how how it changes, right?
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: But when we're young, like right now, um, for me, you know, the things that I find important might be different in in 10 or 20 years.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I like you like a motorcycle, man.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted a motorcycle.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I wanted a motorcycle, you know what I'm saying?
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: That was that was my mindset, you know, because especially the motorcycles that we had in those days, you know, they have the little uh the 150s, you know, and then the you know, the motorcycle from here, you got the big 750s and the little game.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Forget the 150s, those are performers, you know, to get to delivering milk around.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: So um, but you know what?
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: On that note, um, as you get you know, around material stuff, you just realize it's just it's just stuff, you know, it doesn't really matter, you know.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh at one point it seems good, uh, but it's a it's a it's a kind of a trap that life puts in front of you.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, I realize that the less the stuff you have, the best it is.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I I kind of can't went from having very little to a lot of things.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm a point in my life where like I just want to downsize stuff, you know.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: I want as little as possible.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's like you accomplish all these trophies in life and you end up shining them all day, and then you you waste your time shining trophies, you know, and you forget there's a life to believe on out there.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I like I want to go back to one thing you said, which I thought was interesting.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um you said when you came here, you know, you you only planned to be here for a year.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: Get your motorcycle, go back, right?
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's it.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: When how far into that year did you maybe realize you weren't gonna leave?
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Or was that?
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: I think as time as time went by, you know, it it it was tougher to even get that man's mind around it.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I honestly, once you're here, you you you forgot what you came here for, you know, because then you realize there's more to it than that motorcycle, you know.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um so it's just time flies here, man.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's just you know, uh, I remember being out there, it's like a day was forever.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: You did so many things on a day, you know?
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then you go to sleep late at night and just seem like you did a 20 times more of the stuff.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like a day was like so big out there.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: And here it's just a blink one night, another day, another week, another day, another week.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: And did you realize you're here five, six, seven, ten years?
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: Thirty years into it, you know what I'm saying?
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like I have a foot, I I feel more of a uh this is my home now.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: I you know, I came to the conclusion about 20 years ago that this is my home.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um you know, and that Mexico is my second home now.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, but it it it I realized that probably about five years I wasn't gonna go back and leave in Mexico anymore.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and then it that that idea came around again later in life, and I tried to do it with the family, but I just as a family man I didn't feel right I was the right move.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so that that's when I anchor myself here and I'm all aiming here.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: What um let me throw something at you.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Let me throw let me throw something at you.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: When I came to it when I came to the US, um I didn't have any documents.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: I just came running through the hills of Tijuana.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um that coyote was charging four thousand five hundred dollars at the time because I I just didn't want to, I wanted the fastest, safest route.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: I just didn't want to deal with craziness, right?
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um about three months before that, before I made my decision to come down here, I won a car in a raffle.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: I want a BW Rabbit.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, dude, that's crazy.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that didn't happen.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that was like winning a house in Occident in those days.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: So it was crazy, you know.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: I want a car, I didn't know how to drive, but I had a car.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I sold that car and I pay for my coyote to get here.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: Can you explain what your coyote is?
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh coyote is the guy who guides you through the hills to come to the US uh uh without the right permit.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was crazy.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: That was one of my my most crazy times in my life where I saw that you know, just coming across um on those days.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh dude, that's wild.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: Do you do you rem do you still remember those moments or that moment?
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: Every little bit.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, every every detail that would that would never go away because it's so intense, you know.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: What's the most vivid part of it to you?
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the most vivid part was uh there was many, but uh the most vivid one is okay.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I when I won that money, the the Mexican money was very devaluated.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: So uh I had a box box full of high-dead nomination pesos.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I saw that that rabbit for like 6500 bucks, give it uh that BW bus uh car that I got.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: And um so I wanted to bring that money here so I can pay for everything myself.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't want anyone to loan me any money, not none of that stuff.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: So uh so I had a backpack full of uh bills and and I had a bundle of side sucks with duct tapes uh in my belly, and uh so the mob the the scariest moment is we were coming through uh this um swampy area in on south of San Isidro, and there's we're just going through bushes and whatnot, and then there's like five bull guys gangsters.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, okay, we have you know, we're we're down here, you know.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then the coyote guy knew them and he was like, Oh, it's okay, they just they just want money for the bridge.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like, money for the bridge, what do you mean by that?
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: And they had like five tires lined up on a little swampy spot so you don't get swept.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: So five dollars for the bridge, you know.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I had some both pesos, so I just gave them equivalent to five dollars in pesos.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: But in my mind was like, if they know how much money I have with me, I'm done.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm taking around you know the corner of this bush and they're gonna clean me up.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: So that was kind of one of the most intense moments, you know, uh out of that whole ordeal.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Crazy.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: I imagine that's one of the most intense.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: And another one is the coyote, uh, you know, hides all these people uh behind this huge bush on the freeway, four-lane freeway, right?
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: Full launch, full speed freeway, whatever that is, the 410 or whatever down there.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: And he's like, You guys wait here.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: When I go like this, you guys just run across that freeway.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: And like, you just put in your life in this guy.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: This guy could have just messed with all of us.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to get rid of all these people, just go in front, you know, in front of the traffic.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's crazy.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: So he went like this, and we just run, and I just said glimpse, and I remember seeing all those cars.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, holy cow! So we got to the middle, and uh, and then we saw a patrol car coming in another direction and it stopped.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: So we kind of ducked and walked opposite direction from the center divider.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then walked behind him and run through the houses and whatnot.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: That was crazy.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's uh that's one of the things that uh I would never do it again.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh honestly.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's one of the things like if I regret doing something that's fully dead, you know, I I wouldn't do it.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't do it again.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: And now you think of it, you know.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: You mean uh pay the coyote to take you here?
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, I wouldn't do it.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: I would have come here in a different way, but I don't know how.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but yeah, what it is.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: But that was that was pretty crazy.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think that is one of the big issues of today is how do we create a platform for people to come here that is fair and equitable.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: How do we how do we make it so people don't have to do that, right?
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um do you have any moments then from when you actually arrived where you looked around and realized how different of an environment you were in?
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, every day.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: So the first year was really tough.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I wanted to go back every day in my life, the first year.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, it was just tough to adapt into a a new because you know you have no friends.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: You leave all your your friends and your girlfriend, your mom, your dad, everybody is back there, right?
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, not that I didn't have a girlfriend in the days, but yeah, you had a lot of friends, you know.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking for a lot of people who I grew up with here in the US, you know, that was uh one of the things.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, you just it's hard to adjust to everything.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: You miss your your food, you know, your everything you have is, you know, everything that you do on a daily basis, you did it for whatever.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I was on I came here in the younger years, but many people come here uh a little bit older, so they have a little bit more invested.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Some people have their kids, their family, their wife, and whatnot.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: To me, I didn't have a lot of that, you know.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: I just have my my family for the most part, and my friends.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: So you miss everything, every single minute, you know.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you do want to go back, but you know that if you go back, it's really hard to come back in, or you just don't come back at all.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so um I what were your first steps when you got here?
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like what was your first priority?
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: Was it finding work?
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yes, obviously, absolutely.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: And get involved, just get my mind distracted, you know, get a job.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I did get a job.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: I had three jobs at one point, and I was going to school at night.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: So it was crazy.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: I was doing landscape and then during the weekdays Monday to Saturday.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I was do I was a DJ for seven years.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_02: No way.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, oh yeah, dude, it was crazy.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: I was a DJ, I saw kind of nasty stuff and crazy stuff.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so that was weekends, Saturday, uh Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I did that, and then um, so I was doing ESL at night, you know, like three days a week.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: And finished that up and then carry on on that after carry on to uh high school, finished my high school here, which is ESL is English.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that's a second language.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: So uh about a year of that.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't speak any English when I came to the US.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: No way.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: Zero.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so that that was that was hard to do, you know, at the first.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: I was young and I was ambitious.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to be somebody, you know, because coming from uh my my dad had a butcher shop, my mom had a little a little uh supermarket, so I didn't have a lot of physical labor.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: My my young my older brothers did because they grew up on a farm, but not me.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I grew up more you know, after 12 years old, uh when we moved into the bigger town from a little village.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I didn't have to do the physical labor work type of stuff.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: So coming from from from not doing so much physical coming to the US when I had a job as a landscaper with a guy who had no tools and I was doing trenches.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: No gloves.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: I remember one time he asked me to chop off this big tree that just cut down.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: He gave me two uh chisels and a jack and a and a flash hammer, no gloves, no protection of any kind.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: I was my hands were bleeding literally.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: I got blisters and I started to bleed.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: And this guy was stuck.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: And my brother was the foreman of the company, so I couldn't quit without the he just don't quit, you know?
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: I remember I took off my I took off my socks and I put them as gloves.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: And the next that day I went over and bought some gloves with my own money and they forget it, right?
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, how many laptop jobs?
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that must that must have been in I I don't think people truly I mean, I know I don't I I feel like people don't really appreciate the physical exhaustion that comes with uh of any sort of labor like landscaping or I mean it's it's not just going to the office and putting in eight hours, it's it's full body exhaustion.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: Full body exhaustion.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: It was just like the labor laws did not apply.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we had a lunch, but there was no breaks, no that stuff.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: She just, you're being hired to work to work, you know, like a piece of equipment.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so but that inspired me to to to be something in life.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I just knew every day I went into work and to that company said I will know those for my investment my days, and I will I will better myself and I just need to get out of it.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: So the thing that inspired you was knowing you needed to get past that type of labor.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: What was your plan?
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: Well, my plan was to my no, I come from a family of entrepreneurs.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: My dad had his own business, my mom had her own business.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, I just gotta find my my uh my my strength, my niche in and then have a business on that, you know.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I didn't have a uh a specific business in mind, you know.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: I just knew that I just wanted to be something other than that, you know, get a better, give myself a better opportunity.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: So and then I met this one guy who was working on an apartment complex as a painter, and then I started doing fight work with him.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and then I liked that, and he was way better money, you know.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um what were you doing for him?
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he was a painting, a painter for an apartment complex where I was doing landscape.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, interesting.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that's how you got into painting.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's how I got into painting, yeah.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, at first he was a paint, he he had a very busy schedule.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I remember he used to send me to get lunch from college junior, which is across the street from the apartments.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: He goes, Hey, I'll buy you a burger, you know, get me a burger because he didn't have time to do it.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I got a free burger out of that bill, you know, going getting his lunch.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: And uh and then we became friends, limited English, but he was a really nice guy.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: He this is one of the guys uh who created a big impression in my life.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't seen him for years.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I looked him up and I can find him.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so this guy, uh, so he was uh a big impact in my life when it comes to transitioning from from the landscape to the to the painting.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's how we started.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: I threw it in, I started doing site work for him with him.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like he worked for the farming complex, painting apartments, uh, and then he started doing residential homes on the side.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like at the end of the day, you know, start doing prep work and then on the weekends, uh full eight hours on, you know, doing the bigger part of whatever.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: So what what was when you met him, what was one of the the what were the reasons why you thought this guy would have been um like why you why you wanted to be around him more or why you thought he was gonna be helpful or a good friend?
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: It was a natural, a natural thing, you know what I'm saying?
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like when you meet people in life, we say this is you know there's no color here, you know, this guy is awesome, you know, he's just a good person, you know.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I made a lot of you know how people have all these white, black, brown, all these things.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we have issues and now gonna decline.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: We we all know that.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but there are a lot of good people of different colors out there that just don't really care.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so what I'm trying to say is in put all browns in one bucket, all blacks in one bucket.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's definitely not the case with me.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh this guy uh he was a white dude and amazing person.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he he just, you know, he he he taught me a lot of uh English that I know, you know, because I practiced with him and he you know he was very skeptical to help me on that direction and just a good man, a good, you know, he just didn't treat me any different.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh just two guys working, you know, doing something that guys will do, you know.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's an equal.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's that subject, I think it's just the subject of respect, right?
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: You you you find someone, um, and I honestly I've been trying to find of a better way to describe this kind of phenomenon, but it's really just sometimes you meet people and you go, like, that's a good person.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good person, as simple as that, you know.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: Just like I I met many good people, you know, of different colors, not just Hispanics, you know.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I met some not the good people in the Hispanic people, you know.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm like, So I don't I don't I don't I try I try not to look uh into who whatever, you know, I don't fall I don't want to fall into that uh trap.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: So you know, I I respect everybody.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: I think one of the the great aspects of seeing uh the differences between um whatever it is, skin, color, religion, politics, is that um you get to experience a different uh culture or a different perspective.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: So like when you meet this guy, um you create a strong relationship with him.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it sounds like he grew up in a very different uh place than you did, had a different experience growing up, but uh since you were able to have this good, uh you know, respectful relationship, you were probably able to share parts of your own experience and culture with him.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like he was able to share his his language and his culture with you.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I think that's a fantastic uh a fantastic thing.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: When did so you then did you stop working for the landscaping businesses and start working full-time for him?
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I started working I had a small transition of working from uh uh a gardener, a landscaper to a uh building main uh apartment maintenance.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: That was about uh about a year, maybe two years, year and a half two years, uh before I before I moved into painting, full painting.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh just on the opposition uh became open.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh uh to the apartment complex where I was working, we worked for about five different uh apartment complexes, all the same honor.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: And on one of those apartments, uh there was a person with disabilities who just uh the reason why I say this is because this guy with disabilities, he followed me around when I was, I was, he worked for the apartment complex where I was I was doing the landscape uh work and I and I had my own department.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, after we did all the big days with cutting grass and doing the main part of the of the landscape, I had my own department was it was cutting ivy around bushes.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: I hated that job.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: I hated it, man.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um why it was just crazy.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, coming from a tropical climate, right?
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: 80 degrees is an average for me.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm an I'm a dude, you know, I just can't do cold.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: And came in 1990, I saw icicles dripping from the carport.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: I had plastic boots because I had to walk, I have to walk around the, you know, on the landscape and whatnot, so you can't have any anything that penetrates water into your feet because you'll freeze, you know.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean those days.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, what is this horrible place?
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's one thing I didn't know like about here.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: It was the cold days, man.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: When I came, I had like five different layers of sweater, jackets, and whatnot.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: And my brother had a tent top, you know, because he was actually making already here.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's crazy.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: He came with the letters men because I had so many layers, you know.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: So um, so very, very cold weather.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, doing the Ivy job, which he was involved in going under bushes and whatnot to cut the I from taking over bushes.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so this guy chased me around in my department because he knew I was left alone, so we can talk to him.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I asked him questions, how you know English.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: How do you say this in English?
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: How do you say that?
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: How do you say that?
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: So he chased me around.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: So what did what he was getting out of the deal is a free lunch because I used to take extra food.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: So in lunch hours, he just I share my lunch with him.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so it was awesome, dude.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: It was awesome.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: And uh so he retired and his position became available, and and then one and applied for it uh for that for that position.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then the guy, the party manager, he didn't want to hire me because it was conflict for interest.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because the guy who did the landscape worked for the same company, so it was like coaching employees.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: But I say, you know, if you guys don't hire me, I will leave this job.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'll just not work for the landscape company anymore.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I just like an opportunity.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: So the manager, uh another white man, an awesome dude.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: He was so awesome.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's that's another person that created a big impact in my life.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he helped me in so many ways.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he was I'll take a chance on you, I'm gonna hear hell from this guy, but we're gonna deal with it.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: And sure enough, I mean, he got my back the entire time.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: So work for this um for the apartment complex, we could have had way more benefits.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: They had, you know, 401k, they had health insurance, double my rate by the way.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: I was driving a golf cart instead of pushing the lawn motor, working crazy.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: I had my brakes, I had a uniform provided by these guys.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: He was crazy, right?
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: So that's awesome.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: It was hard to leave that job and go to the painting part.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's where Danny and I worked for this.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: Danny was the painting guy.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then he then when he left that his dad was a painter there, he went to work for a commercial company called Mattenso Painting, which are no longer in the area, they were local companies, uh uh second generation company.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: So he was a uh a supervisor, uh I'm sorry, a superintendent for that company.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: So he's the one who called me up after the site work with him.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: He goes, he called me Gringold.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: And he goes, Gringo, come and work for me, you know.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I was making like 14 bucks an hour in the days.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: So he started me at 32 bucks an hour, no brainer.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: Let's do this thing, right?
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: So that's awesome.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: I went and worked for this commercial company.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: And then was that the so that was the start of a path then to becoming the owner of your own painting company?
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's how did how did how how did that come about?
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like I because it sounds like, and I I I like this because it's you already knew this was gonna happen, right?
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: At at 16, you come here and you start doing this landscaping work, and you're like, no, this isn't it.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm going to Yeah, I'm moving out of here.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: This is a stepping stone, baby, you know, like and then you you actively also I do like how it was I think this is an interesting point, which is you weren't just doing physical labor.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you were, which is already exhausting, you were at the same time learning English.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: So you were like testing your mind and your body all day, every day.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: Every day.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: There was no wasted time.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, no, no.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't believe in wasting time, no, not at all.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: No, man.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, on between all of that, I had two days.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: This is how crazy my life got at one point.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: So working landscape, crazy with this 40 dude who was like, I kind of would drive around.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: I was his he told me at one time, goes, You're so skinny, but you're just so strong, you know.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I like you.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: And he that was a big compliment because he was very, he never say those things, you know.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: He'd run me around with them at the time, and sometimes he forgot his his uh his tools to dig trenches, and we saw a broken pipe goes, Oh, open that hole there.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: But I said, Well, we have no tools, find the stick.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like, okay, so find the stick and dig around this pipe, and remember it was just like this is not, this is not right, right?
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then uh, so he brought out his tool, his, his, his glue and his parts to come to fix his pipe.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: And one time, you know, because he you need to a rag to clean up the pipes before you glue them, and he threw me a white rag and I looked at it like, is that what I think it is?
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know what it was?
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: His tiny white is it.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, Are you kidding me?
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, this is embarrassing.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm clear fighting his tiny white is like this is like it's you know, it was crazy, dude.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, so I knew that that wasn't gonna be for me for a long time.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I was working that type of job, um, doing my ESL uh three days, working on the weekends of the DJ.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I had two days, they had nothing on the end of the day, and then one of my friends was hey, we're looking for a cook, and you have a cook right now.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I was a little so I said, all right, I'll give it a try.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: Two days, why not?
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: So I went there, and uh and I realized all the food that we eat here is just garbage food.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, with we're working as a chef in Mexico, everything's from scratch.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: You do your own salas, you have departments of pastry, make your own mayo, make your own dressing, all fresh from scratch.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: Everything's from scratch.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: You cut your own potatoes and fry and everything here, you'll just it's like out of can.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: You're supposed to open a bag, right?
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: And put it in the fryer.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know how it's so busy, so they they the cooks just grab the bag, it's plastic, put it in the fryer, so it melts, it melts in one end and just throw it on the f on the garbage.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, what the heck?
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: Opening cans, it's just like this is like dog food to me.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's like this is crazy.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I learned, you know, that part like this is not so that's what people so unhealthy, bro.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: So that's another story, bro.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: So um, so I quit the job because uh one of the clients uh returned a meal because he wasn't fully cooked or whatever.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I decided to give it to the dishwasher guys instead of throwing away.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: The standard was just guys throw it away.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I give it to the dishwasher who worked there.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: So the man the manager find out and then chewed me up for giving the food to the dishwasher instead of throwing away.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: But I told him about this guy works here, works hard, makes no money.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's just yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: He goes, No, you gotta he need to buy his own food from us.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's like this is nonsense.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: So that was the end of that two days.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_01: So you were you were like seven days a week all day, man.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: Seven days, dude.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's crazy.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: How long did you do that for?
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: Or I guess a better question would be how long could you maintain that?
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: Not long, not long.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: Your body needs to rest.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care how young, how strong you are, you you need to have a rest.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta have work talents, you know.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: So and then following up on that would be with this perspective, right?
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's I mean, it's it's uh clear that you value your time, right?
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: Very your your time is a priority to you, which it should be.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: I think it should be for everyone.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: How do you go about uh finding the right things to do and then finding the right ways to rest?
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like you don't want to rest and go play video games all day long.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: How do you how do you actively rest and and kind of spend time wisely?
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: Right now or back in the days?
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe back in those days.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um back in the days.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: So you have your set things that you have to do, right?
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like work and then you know, all this school and whatnot.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um the days that they that you don't have anything planned out, you know.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: I I I think the best thing that they helped me a lot was working out.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: I I had a group of guys that we worked out a lot.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then just being a kid and too, you know.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I used to, you know, go out there and hang out with these kids who who were born and raised here.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: And and so that was for me, that was fun to do, but scary at the same time because you know, I grew up in a farm community and when I got here, kids my age were into doing dope, many dope, you know, a lot of weeds in those days, and some you know, a lot of them some of them were into gangs, uh, some were not, some were pretending to be into gangs just to get the girl, you know.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, yeah.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, just try to do kids stuff.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: I mean kids my age stuff, you know, um yeah around 20s.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I would there I I I don't this is one thing I don't do.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: I don't like to have a planned schedule.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: I don't do that.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: I don't plan my life like, oh uh today I'm gonna watch the movie or to I I don't plan too far out.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: I don't I don't.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: What is it about that that you that you like not having that that plan?
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: One less thing to worry about, you know.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: You don't when you have a a schedule, you know, you know I have to do these things, even if fun stuff, you know.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: Your mind just don't feel like doing that.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: I want that one day that you, you know, that task shows up.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you may want to instead of going for a hike, you may just want to chill or just go to the beach or whatever, you know.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: I like to get spontaneous.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: I don't like to plan even the fun part, you know.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: There are some things that you do plan, like a load trip to whatever.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but I don't like planning unless I have to plan it when I come down to things in life.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: I totally agree.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: I think that there's something to it, which is if you plan out your work, like if you have your work, at least you know, for the day or for the next couple of days, if you know when you have to do things that you have to do, yeah, then the rest of the time you truly can be spontaneous.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's like being planned in the things that have to be done lets you be spontaneous in the times when you can just be yourself.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: Just see how you feel that day, you know.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, just grab some set time for either yourself or to do something, you know.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's just uh planning, yeah, being spontaneous is it's really I think is something that I that I really like to advise anyone, you know, just don't plan it all out, you know.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: Don't have an agenda when you go, even when you go on vacations, don't have a set bunch of itinerary, like, oh, do they want to do this?
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: Is it gonna be that?
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: Did it come to job again?
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's just go with the flow, man.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: I guess then I mean the the balance here and the question I'm really curious about is you still want to spend that time wisely, right?
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_01: You don't want it.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_01: I would say it would be dangerous for someone who only plays video games during their free time to not plan anything out because then they might actually spend all of their free time playing video games, right?
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you gotta you have to mix it up.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: You can't just, you know, give your body where you really want, you know, just the naturally human beings, you know, not everybody for the most part, you know, we just want to do nothing, you know, or just as little as possible.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh just you know, that's just a natural human behavior.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but you have to understand when if you have any anything that's tying you down, even though it feels good at the moment, can be whatever.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna get into subjects that we all have uh uh something that we know we shouldn't be doing, can be drinking too much or playing too much or doing too much exercise, whatever.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: But it's it's it's good to mix it up, you know.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's not don't don't just give in to the same habit.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: Break the routine, do something you haven't done uh before, you know.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be afraid to step out of that box, you know.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, visit a place you haven't visited before.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's a big part of what you were saying about spontaneity, is it's not just about um not having a plan, but it's also a bit about going out of what you normally do.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, get to meet people, you know, uh expose yourself to situations that were ever the calculator risk, right?
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh where you don't, I mean, you can meet some amazing people, you know.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I think networking is really, really important is that you can network even while having fun, you know.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um just get to know people, you know, get to know different backgrounds and and also show all the people there.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: You are not that person that people want you to think you are, you know.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um be a bit of a mystery.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, dude.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if you look behind me, that's my wagon right there.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love that thing.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: I just cruise in that, you know.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: I just pick a point and I'm going on that direction, and I don't know where I'm gonna spend that night.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: I can spend it on the parking lot, I can spend it on a hill somewhere, on a campground, whatever.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I just I know I'm gonna park up food for two, three days and just head on.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: Put some potty boards, get some barbecuing, whatever.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: Just go legendary.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it just do it, man.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I mean, it's just it just has to be you can't plan it all up.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes one of the best moments in your life is those unplanned moments, and that's just my personal experience.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_01: I think and this is a really important thing nowadays when you there are so many ways for people to get distracted from stuff I that they really want to do, right?
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: There's there's the stuff that we always do, right?
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: That's the video games, that's the the drinking, that's whatever that is.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_01: And then there are the things that we kind of want to try, but we're not necessarily bold enough to try.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then there's all the shit that's distracting us from doing that, right?
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so there's there's uh the the ability to you know turn off your phone and give yourself just 20 minutes of no distractions and go, what would be something crazy that I could do right now?
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_01: And let's just go do it, right?
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_01: Because that's that's what you're saying, is and that's what I hear you saying is uh go do things that are gonna give you a new experience and just like see what happens.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: Don't have a plan for it, don't have a plan for for what you're gonna feel, don't have a plan for who you're gonna meet, just do it.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_00: Just do it, you know, just do it.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, some of the moms lately, you know, time time changes, right?
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I don't do the same thing over and over and over.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I have a great team of people, which is my wife and kids.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_00: They are share the same craziness, you know.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, one of the things that we are doing lately is just even on the weekdays, we just hop on that thing, get some wine, get some blankets, go see a sunset somewhere, you know.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that that is awesome.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we're kind of getting to know to know our spots where we just go and just chill, you know.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, I've got some I've got some good spots for you in the area.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: Well, right home, I can't wait to live up.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then share that, you know.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_00: I share it with you know, friends.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_00: You should try this, try that.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_00: And and um, I don't know, and you know, enrich other people as well.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, be be it uh be a good like create a good effect on this world, which is you know, I think it's uh we I think people are losing their their human touch, you know.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they're too much into profits, um, more than you know, um help build people out, you know, just give a good advice, help a help a person, you know.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we all need a chance to to, you know.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_00: I have many people that helped me in my in my life.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: So if I can help a young person out mainly, you know, or or a person who is struggling and I know they really want to get out of that situation, stand up, you know, and then help them out.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_01: I I think that that's a really important build on what we were talking about.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_01: Is this the past five minutes we're kind of on this idea of spontaneity and going out and doing stuff just to gain new experiences.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the way you build on that is perfect because it's by doing that, you turn into maybe a better person.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_01: You become a better person, you you gain new skill sets, you gain new experiences.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_01: And as that person with more to offer, you can then offer that to other people.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_01: You become a more interesting person to, or you gain new skill sets that you can give to other people.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_00: Just enrich yourself.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't have to be like I mean, we all are rich in many different ways, you know.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh the the the word ignorant people think it's a bad word.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's it's an excellent word, you know.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_00: I I mean I I'm an ignorant on many subjects, right?
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't see myself less than the some of the people I work with, which are very successful in life money-wise.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: But I see the part where people are missing out, which is having those little experiences in life that enriches you and the people around you, you know.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: So whatever experience uh you have and you can share, just share it with people and you know try to make the next person a better person, you know.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um I just my team right now.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_01: I I love it, man.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_01: I think we've talked about a lot of wonderful topics.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah, you have some some really wild stories.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure you have plenty more that could fill up uh way way more than 45-minute conversation.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um but I I appreciate your stories of of coming to the United States, and I I appreciate your perspective on kind of spending time wisely and and how hard you work and you know not wasting not wasting your moments, you know.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_01: Learn learn while you're working and and and build a better future for yourself, but also kind of what we've been talking about at the end, which is using those experiences to uh not just enrich yourself, but enrich the lives of others.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_01: And the last question I have is if you could look back on this conversation, what is one message that you think listeners could take out of it in their day?
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_00: I would say um don't judge the book based cover, you know.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um get to know people before you know you make a judgment on someone.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's that's just my my main advice to to everyone out there, you know, because we're including myself, at times uh we'll fall into what's going on with today's uh craziness, right?
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_00: And then we're like, oh, that person must be doing this because it's whatever, right?
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um so even if it's someone you see someone out there with with the uh with the sticker of the opposite party that you that you hate, um, don't hate that person.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_00: That person has the same rights as you and has the same uh freedom of you do.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_00: And uh try to get to know people, you know?
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh even those people that you think you're not gonna like.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_00: You'd be amazed.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um how well how much in common we have uh as human beings.
• 42:06
  unknown: Wonderful, man.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_01: Enrich people's lives, get to know other people and enrich their lives.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_01: I want to thank God for that fantastic conversation.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_01: If you enjoyed this episode or have enjoyed the podcast in the past, the greatest thing you can do is share with us.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_01: I would really appreciate it.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_01: Likewise, if you enjoyed this episode, take a look at episode number 14 with case and second five.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_01: So talk about what you learned from the case.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_01: And how your name is both defined by the action of the case.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_01: So, that's the story of the city.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_01: You open your market for yourself.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_01: It makes me wonder if I've been spending my frequent time in technology, whether doing work ordering that's not a good thing.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_01: So that might better be the first time right now.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_01: It provides for the people that I care about in the future.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe it makes you wonder about the way you've been spending your time recently too.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_01: If you like this episode of taking authenticity, that's freaking awesome.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_01: All I want to ask of you, the listener, in return for the time and effort I put into making it, is that you take a deep breath.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean really breathe.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_01: Breathe so that it stretches out your shoulders and your back and your chest and pushes out your stomach.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_01: No more of these shallow bullshit breaths that are really keeping you alive, my friend.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_01: And after you exhale, go out and still get that.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_01: Because in the end, your actions and the way they interact with the world and the people around you right now are all you have in this life.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_01: So be authentic with them.